Jeanne d'Arc [PSP]

''The other reason behind the system's flexibility is that you can easily combine the skill stones that you acquire to gain new skills or abilities. Players that have been familiar with previous Level-5 games know that combining items is a major part of the game experience, and Jeanne d'Arc is no different. Cuisses, the French frog that becomes part of your party early on, can perform an action known as Skill Binding, where he takes two stones and merges them to form a new stone. The game will keep track of any recipes that you've created just in case you want to create another copy after you gained new raw materials. With more than 150 different Skill Stones that can be acquired via fallen opponents, stores, battle objectives or Skill Binding, there are plenty of skills to be discovered for use in battle situations, even if you are limited to a total of six equipped skills at any point.

Speaking of battle, players will consistently find themselves taking on missions that bring them to battlefields in-between the various story events and equipping of characters at shops. However, not every mission is an eliminate all monsters on the field situation; Jeanne d'Arc mixes up the gameplay by throwing in different objectives, such as escort missions from one area to another, protecting specific items or locations or successfully getting your party to an escape point when odds are against them. You'll also be tasked with avoiding failure conditions, such as losing a single ally in battle. While that may seem somewhat normal when compared to other strategy titles, Jeanne d'Arc further keeps players constantly on their toes by forcing them to complete their objectives within a pre-determined number of turns. This prevents players from playing the game at a leisurely pace by slowly picking enemies off one by one, and ensures that each fight will be fast and furious, as well as challenging. Monsters will often use their ranged attacks, keep their weaker magic users at a distance and frequently go after your weaker party members, which will force you to rethink your strategy and placement if you want to survive a fight.

Battles initially start by placing characters upon the battlefield, either to support pre-selected fighters or to tactically take pre-determined areas. Depending upon the mission, you'll be able to field up to seven characters of your choosing to fight for you. Obviously, players can choose to use their best fighters during every single battle, constantly improving their stats and strengthening these characters. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about having a second string of useless warriors, as each unused character shares from a general experience bonus that you receive at the end of each successful battle, which will help to keep most fighters relatively close to each other level-wise. What's more, if you do decide to send a frequently unused character to the wolves, finishing off a monster or enemy soldier with them will result in an experience bonus, which may be useful for characters looking to quickly gain levels.

One tactic that will help your party members, regardless of their level, is the Burning Aura support tactic. Whenever players attack an enemy, a circular aura of energy is projected behind the target, further providing a reason to initially attack opponents from the flank or the rear to gain an advantage in battle. The Burning Aura intensifies both the likelihood of successfully landing an attack on a target as well as the amount of damage from a strike. What's more, if a party member happens to be behind the target when a Burning Aura is triggered, they can pick up and carry the aura with them, allowing them to maneuver to the best location to use the augmented attack. There are two caveats to this system, however, that help to balance out players that consistently spawn these energy fields. The first is that you only have a limited amount of time to use the Auras before they dissipate. Each one lasts for a single turn, and while they can be saved to help power up counter attacks whenever the enemy has control of the battlefield, once you take the field again, any pre-existing auras disappear. The other tweak is that monsters can take advantage of any Auras that you inadvertently create, so you need to be careful of spawning too many, or they may come back to bite you.

Fortunately, players can somewhat protect themselves from being decimated by enemy attacks or misplaced Auras by the use of the Unified Guard defense tactic. Simply put, characters gain a defensive bonus based on the number of friendly party members that are nearby. You don't have to be physically standing shoulder to shoulder in a line to receive this bonus either; characters can be diagonally nearby to one another in relative proximity to strengthen the defense against any melee attacks. While the Unified Guard doesn't protect against area or magical attacks, it can sometimes be the difference between life and death in most battles, particularly when you're waiting for your skill points to replenish themselves so you can trigger an attack, spell or innate ability. See, at the beginning of every battle, all of your characters are curbed to a set number of skill points, which dictates whether they'll initially be able to pull off a basic skill or not. As each turn continues, their skill points are constantly replenished, which forces players to wait a bit longer to pull off more powerful attacks.''